Microsoft Turns on Windows Azure Service in China

Microsoft has launched its Windows Azure cloud computing service in China.

The service initially was available for signup back in June, but it reached "general availability" commercial status today. With this launch, Microsoft is claiming to be the "first" multinational company to offer public cloud services in the country.

The move is part of broader expansion of Windows Azure into the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan and Australia, too, at a cost to Microsoft of hundreds of millions. Microsoft also announced yesterday that it's planning to rename Windows Azure and will start calling it "Microsoft Azure" on April 3.

Microsoft may be the first multinational company with infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-service offerings in China, but it still faces competition from Amazon and other service providers in that country, according to a blog post by Charlie Dai, a principal consultant on enterprise architecture at Forrester Research. Competitors such as IBM and Oracle are using OpenStack technologies to offer cloud services in the country, while the use of CloudStack is being driven by Citrix.

Microsoft and 21Vianet's Windows Azure service likely will put pressure on local low-cost service providers in China, such as Aliyun, according to Dai. The service can compete by offering better uptime guarantees. Currently Microsoft's cloud computing service is the first in China to offer a service level agreement of 99.5 percent, he explained.

Dai added that Microsoft has set a positive example with its partner ecosystem in the country. Amazon has a longer operational history in providing cloud services, but it "still has a way to [go] before it understands local customers and establishes a partner ecosystem" in China, Dai explained.